Sanctuary
by SiriusMarauderFan
Summary: Irma Pince has had some trouble finding a job, but could all the signs be leading her back to Hogwarts? one shot.


**Author's Note:** Written for…

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. _Team/Position:_ Montrose Magpies, Chaser 1. _Task:_ Write about Madam Pince's job interview. _Prompts:_ fingers crossed, omen, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it." – W.C. Fields

 **Sanctuary**

There were times while Irma Pince was at school that she thought 'I need a break.' Usually these times coincided with the end of year exams or any time she was forced to take a Transfiguration test. All in all, these times were few and far between.

It was startling then to realize that she'd thought those exact same words every day since she'd left Hogwarts for the last time. And it had only been four months.

She thought by now she would have had her life together. Her plan had only been to stay in her family home – the one that held not only her parents and siblings, but her uncle's family and her nutty grandmother as well – until she was through with Ministry training and had enough money to get herself a flat of her own. How was she supposed to know that Ministry registration had closed when she was in the middle of NEWTs?

She tried all she could to still get herself into her chosen department, but there was no hope until the following year. For a whole month she went from shop to shop in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, filling out applications. When she got no replies, her uncle gave her a valuable piece of advice: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it."

So that was that. For a few knuts a day, Irma resigned herself to babysitting her little cousins and making sure their grandmother didn't burn anything down with her experiments in the attic. She cleaned and cooked and barely got a spare moment to herself, especially not once her parents and uncle and aunt returned from work. The house wasn't nearly big enough to hold them all comfortably.

Then September rolled around again. Natalie, Irma's younger sister and arguably the only other sane person in the family, was going off to her seventh year of schooling. Irma couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. She and Nat had had such a good time together at Hogwarts. They'd been in the same house and kept almost the exact same schedule while outside of classes.

She'd absolutely had enough of family life by October and decided it was time for a break. While her family was busy in the garden one day, Irma took the opportunity to floo to Hogwarts to visit her sister.

She expected Natalie to be reading by the lake, as they had every Saturday around this time, but found a group of first years instead. With the help of a prefect, she checked the Ravenclaw tower with no luck. Her last hope was the library. It had been a sanctuary for both of the Pince sisters whenever they were stressed or angry.

The library wasn't even close to how Irma remembered it. Madam Langley had always kept herself busy, straightening and cleaning books and dusting shelves and shushing students. Now she sat at her desk reading a quilting magazine while ran up and down the aisles, shouting at the top of their lungs. Even from the doorway, Irma could see the thick layer of dust covering the shelves. Crumpled pieces of parchment littered the floor, and pools of ink covered the tables.

Irma was frozen, disgusted by the desecration of her beloved library. And there, amongst the filth, was her sister, hunched over a book with her hands over her ears. Irma forced herself to take the seat opposite Natalie, wincing at the discarded chewing gum she spotted stuck to the spine of a book.

Natalie looked up and grinned, uncovering her ears. "What are you doing here?" she shouted over the other students.

Irma shook her head and stood up. She was not about to have a conversation like this. She snatched up her sister's book with one hand and took the younger girl's arm in the other, pulling her from the abnormally noisy library.

"What _happened_?" she hissed once they were in the quiet corridor.

"What do you mean?" Natalie asked, taking back her book. "Has something gone wrong at home?"

"No, they're all fine. I meant with the library. What's wrong with Madam Langley? Why isn't she…" Irma paused, at a loss for how to describe her anger.

"There was an accident last month. An explosion. Madam Langley is deaf. She took it rather hard. She hardly ever leaves her desk anymore."

Irma considered this for a moment, feeling sorry for the woman she had looked up to for so many years, when suddenly she was struck by a brilliant thought.

"It's an omen!"

"An … omen?" her sister repeated skeptically.

"Yes, of course! I've been trying to find a job for months, and now poor Madam Langley can't do hers anymore. They need a replacement."

"I don't know. They haven't made any move to hire a new librarian yet."

"You'll see. They need someone to straighten things out in there."

Irma took her sister's arm once more and dragged her to the Headmaster's office, forcing the Head Girl to give her the password.

Dumbledore was thankfully alone when Irma knocked on his door. He greeted her with a smile and immediately offered her a seat and lemon drop. She accepted both.

"It's not very often a former student comes back so soon," he mused. "What can I do for you."

"I just came to visit my sister, and I couldn't help but notice the state of the library, sir."

"Ah, yes. No doubt you've seen Madam Langley, hmm? Poor thing."

"Nothing can be done for her?" Irma asked.

"I'm afraid not. The damage was permanent."

"With all due respect, sir, something needs to be done about the library."

Dumbledore nodded. "I realize things are a tad bit chaotic at the moment, but we're hoping it will get better in time. It certainly wouldn't be fair of me to fire dear Gertrude after so many years of service-"

"I'm not suggesting firing her," Irma interceded. "I'm suggesting she needs an assistant. Someone who could handle matters while she's recovering, and perhaps stay on afterwards if she requests it."

"Ah, but where would I find someone willing to take on such a job?" the headmaster wondered, although his eyes twinkled in a way that had become very familiar to Irma as his student.

Irma smiled sweetly and stood up from her seat. "You know where to find me when you make your decision, sir."

:-:

Natalie was still waiting in the corridor when Irma finished with her impromptu job interview. She was sitting on the cold stone floor, reading her book.

"I see you found a better place to study."

The younger girl scowled. "Not as comfortable though. Tell me you've fixed things."

Irma smiled, already imagining the look on her aunt and uncle's faces when she would tell them to find a new babysitter. "Fingers crossed."


End file.
